Back-to-back measures that came before the Brevard County Commission this past week split commissioners on issues surrounding what's called "home rule."

Home rule, in effect, gives counties and cities the power to approve legislation, without interference from the state government.

Both discussions at Tuesday's County Commission meeting centered on proposals to support legislation now being considered by the Florida Legislature.

One would increase the state oversight of regional and local economic development and tourism agencies like the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast and the Space Coast Office of Tourism.

The other would allow counties and cities to regulate the use of containers, wrappers and disposable plastic bags.

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County Commissioner Curt Smith and County Commission Vice Chair Kristine Isnardi were on opposite sides of two votes on Tuesday on issues some commissioners classified as dealing with "home rule."(Photo: TIM SHORTT/ FLORIDA TODAY FILE PHOTO)

Commissioners defeated the proposal to support state legislation for more state oversight of economic development agencies by a 3-2 vote. They supported the proposed legislation to allow local control for regulating containers and plastic bags by a 3-2 vote.

In both cases, the split was the same — as has been the case with many controversial issues coming before the County Commission since three new commissioners took office in November 2016.

County Commission Chair Rita Pritchett and Commissioners Jim Barfield and Curt Smith were in the majority. Vice Chair Kristine Isnardi and Commissioner John Tobia were in the minority.

Of course, neither vote has much real impact, since it's the Florida Senate and House members who will be deciding on these issue. But county commissioners had a chance to debate the pros and cons of the two issues, and give their own interpretations of home rule.

Regulating plastic bags

Commissioners approved a citizen's request by Christine Kane of Cocoa for them to support passage of House Bill 6039 and Senate Bill 1014, which would allow counties and cities to regulate of use of containers, wrappers and disposable plastic bags. (Pritchett, incidentally, couldn't resist calling her "Citizen Kane" when asking Kane to come to the speaker's podium.)

The bills would eliminate a requirement that the Florida Legislature adopt recommendations of the Florida Department of Environmental Protection before local governments could enact rules on this issue. Kane said recommendations were submitted by the Department of Environmental Protection in 2010, but the Florida Legislature never acted on them.

House Bill 6039 and Senate Bill 1014 have been referred to House and Senate committees, but have not come up for votes.

"For the past several years, legislation has been brought before the state, requesting that they allow municipalities to regulate plastic bags, and each time, it has failed," Kane said in her request. "The state has been unwilling to allow municipalities to govern themselves in this respect."

Kane said the proposal she was seeking support for is "a matter of home rule. I believe this is a long-overdue piece of legislation. It does not automatically change anything having to do with those particular items. It merely gives that authority back to the local governing body."

Kane cited concerns about land and water pollution, as well as the impact on wildlife, from the use of plastic foam containers and plastic bags.

Smith supported Kane's proposal, saying: "This is simply allowing us to have that ability, and any future commission, if they decide to take up this issue, so I think it's important."

Barfield also supported her proposal, saying "the cities are the ones that are closest to the issue," and should "make that decision, not someone in Tallahassee."

But Isnardi argued that "we can't use home rule when it suits our argument. We can pick apart every bill that goes through the House and the Senate, and use the home rule argument to make it sound good."

Isnardi said commissioners supporting this proposal were making a stretch by tying it into home rule.

"I don't like everything the Legislature does," Isnardi said. "But, at the same time, we can't just pooh-pooh the things we don't like, and say 'it's a home rule issue,' To me, this isn't a home rule issue. This is a business rights issue for me. So I won't be supporting it."

"I respect the idea of home rule," Tobia said. "I think it's only fair that we use it all the time, instead of only the times that it meets our ideologies, one way or the other."

Tobia said, if commissioners really cared about home rule, they would have supported his previous proposals to transfer operations of some county parks to the cities they are located in.

Regulating economic, tourism agencies

Just moments earlier, commissioners defeated a proposal by Tobia to support Senate Bill 1714, which he said "would increase the levels of transparency and accountability of economic development agencies and tourism promotion agencies."

In pushing his proposal, Tobia said the bill:

Adds disclosure requirements.

Requires the agencies to post videos of their meetings online.

Requires them to make certain contracts public.

Requires more extensive annual reporting.

Requires more disclosure of travel expenses.

Limits taxpayer funding of agency salaries.

Requires the auditor general to conduct periodic audits of these agencies.

The Florida House approved a similar bill, House Bill 3, by a vote of 87-20 on Jan. 25. Among House members representing Brevard County, Randy Fine and Tom Goodson voted in favor; Rene Plasencia voted against; and Thad Altman was absent.

Senate Bill 1714 has been approved by one Senate committee.

Tuesday's County Commission agenda package included a Jan. 29 letter from Lynda Weatherman, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, in opposition to Senate Bill 1714.

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Lynda Weatherman, president and chief executive officer of the Economic Development Commission of Florida's Space Coast, opposes Senate Bill 1714, saying "passage of this bill will adversely impact economic development, both in Brevard County and throughout Florida."(Photo: TIM SHORTT/FLORIDA TODAY FILE PHOTO)

Weatherman wrote that "passage of this bill will adversely impact economic development, both in Brevard County and throughout Florida. The resulting effect will be a decline in the state's competitiveness for jobs and capital investment."

She emphasized that "the EDC believes in accountability," through its annual financial statements, reports and audits.

But Weatherman said the bill "attempts to shift the balance of oversight from the local level, where funds are invested, to the state level, from which no funds are received. This burdensome process will not only disrupt local and state efforts in economic development, it will become burdensome and costly to implement."

She also said the bill "jeopardizes Florida's competitiveness by requiring local board meetings and strategic initiatives to be posted on the web, enabling our competitors to easily access that information and use it to their advantage."

Kathyrn Rudloff, executive director of the Business Voice Political Committee, sent the four commissioners other than Tobia an email to say that — based partly on a conversation Rudloff said she had with Sen. Debbie Mayfield of Rockledge — "I think it is clear this legislation is not going anywhere" in the Senate.

"A resolution from a County Commission would have absolutely no effect on that, either way," Rudloff wrote.

Business Voice is a political action committee whose members includes business and community leaders from across Brevard County and various industries.

When Barfield brought Rudloff's Feb. 14 email up, Tobia, a former member of the Florida House, dismissed it, telling fellow commissioners: "Holding Kathyrn Rudloff as an expert on what happens in the Legislature is like making me an expert on SpaceX because I launched rockets in junior high school. By saying that this bill is dead is factually incorrect."

But Barfield, Pritchett and Smith again used the home rule argument in opposing Tobia's resolution.

Smith said that, while he doesn't oppose transparency, he believes this bill "just comes down simply to home rule, and I just find it very interesting that conservative Republicans who wish for smaller government are looking to eliminate home rule."

Barfield said he believes home rule is "a fundamental principle of our country," and that "local leaders are better equipped to understand the needs of our community," rather than more regulations from Tallahassee.